A star was born last night in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
In the main event of Score Fighting Series 7, 23-year-old Canadian Jordan Mein stopped tough-as-nails Forrest Petz in the first round and made it look easy, knocking out the seven-fight UFC veteran with one of the most vicious barrage of punches, knees and elbows I’ve ever witnessed in all my years watching mixed martial arts.
Score Fighting Series winner Jordan Mein has star potential
Safe to say Mein doesn’t have to worry about getting a UFC contract offer when Strikeforce – to whom Mein currently owes his services to – folds up shop as expected in early 2013.
Mein was on loan to SFS from Strikeforce only because he had a scheduled bout at the cancelled November event (the one that was supposed to be headlined by Daniel Cormier vs. Frank Mir) and thus his fight with Strikeforce was scratched, so promotional matchmaker Sean Shleby let him take one fight with Petz in SFS in order to make his living.
The only caveat was that if Mein lost to Petz it would have counted as a loss against his Strikeforce record, unlike Derek Brunson, whose loss to Kendall Grove in a loaner fight obviously wasn’t counted against his SF record as he fought Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in his return bout. But Mein didn’t lose to Petz; in fact, he came out a massive winner on Friday night at the Hamilton Place Theatre.
First off, there’s no question the many fans in attendance got their money’s worth with Mein’s supreme finish to the show. But perhaps the most important aspect to consider was that this was the second SFS event to be broadcast live on AXS TV in the United States (as well as on theScore in Canada), and on a rare off weekend on the UFC and Bellator calendars, there were a lot of eyeballs on this particular SFS card. For Mein to come into the cage and absolutely wreck an insanely tough dude like Petz — who was coming off the best win of his career in his SFS debut back in March against Sergey Juskevic — shows how very talented and dangerous this young mixed martial artist is, and the fact he did it on such a big stage is only going to help his popularity explode in what may have been his last fight outside of the elusive Octagon.
Mein should have been in the UFC a year ago, but it was a good thing he was signed to the Strikeforce roster instead because he has improved so much with the fights he’s had in Strikeforce. Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos (striking), Tyron Woodley (wrestling), Tyler Stinson (well-rounded) – all three of these fighters provided different challenges to Mein and he came through with shining colours for the most part, save for an ugly split decision loss to Woodley in a bad fight for both guys, but especially for Mein as his wrestling was exposed (although he did enough damage off his back to nab one judges’ scorecard). But it’s the experience he gained that will prove to be most valuable when making his way through the murky depths of the stacked UFC welterweight division, especially as he begins to fight the big wrestlers that await.
But I have faith in Mein, who I saw compete in the first-ever MMA card in Ontario in April 2011 when he decisioned UFC vet Josh Burkman. In his last 10 fights, Mein is 8-2 with wins over “Cyborg,” Stinson, Petz, Marius Zaromskis, Burkman, and Joe Riggs, and the only losses are to Woodley and another good Strikeforce fighter in Jason High. Clearly Mein’s weakness is his wrestling as both Woodley and High were able to wrestle him to decisions, but his standup is absolutely lethal and knocking out tough veterans like “Cyborg,” Petz and Riggs is nothing short of impressive.
Although Mein is only 23, the Lethbridge, Alberta native is already 34 fights deep into his MMA career, having compiled a 26-8 record with 13 wins via T/KO and seven via submission. And don’t forget his first pro fight came against Rory MacDonald when Mein was only a tender 16 years of age. Unreal. Although he got finished by MacDonald in that bout, it’s meaningless now so many years later. What does have meaning, though, is that Mein has been fighting grown men while he’s basically been a kid and now that he’s growing into a man he’s only going to improve more, which is scary.
Mein has the potential to be a star fighter in the UFC. He is a young, talented, and good-looking fighter with an awesome personality and a smile always on his face. If he can continue to fight as well as he has been and make the strides he needs in his game in order to evolve into the elite mixed martial artist he has the potential to be, he can be a future UFC champion. But he needs to get that opportunity to prove himself in the Octagon first to do so. And now that he’s finished Petz, he may just get that chance.
